An unusual sighting

ORRINGTON – Star-nosed moles are common, but we don’t see them very often from inside the Fields Pond Audubon Center building. Instead, we see their burrows near the marsh and the stream, and their resulting piles of dark wetland soil which sometimes resemble a cowflop.

This week, a star-nosed mole was seen scurrying around the building in broad daylight, in all its glory, with 20-odd little tentacles encircling its nose. Also notable were its big front paws and legs resembling little shovels attached to its sides, not to its underneath like a dog’s legs.

It made some new burrows near the building where no star-nosed mole had ever dug before. We have woodchuck and chipmunk burrows nearby, but no star-nosed mole up to now. We surmise that this little pioneer was a dispersing first-year animal, the equivalent of a young adult (person) going off to seek his/her fortune.

They are truly the strangest-looking animal, with their wiggly tentacles around the nose, and the odd placement of their legs out to the side. The tentacles are said to help them find their way in dark tunnels, and to find worms to eat. And the legs function well as they swim, or dig their way through wet soil.

Another visitor from tunnels

We had another interesting visitor – a good-sized (4- to 5-inch) blue-spotted salamander! Not to be mistaken for a spotted salamander, with big bright yellow spots, this small relative has less distinct but unmistakably blue spots. They are both in the group called the mole salamanders, because they live most of their lives in dark, moist tunnels in the soil.

In April, blue-spotted salamanders are heading for vernal pools for mating and laying eggs. Our salamander must have stopped under a board on its way to a vernal pool where others of its kind will congregate. It was a special treat to see this secretive little animal.

Send sightings, comments, or questions to fieldspond@maineaudubon.org